Hey readers, sorry about the tardiness of the post. But, alas, here it is!! I hope you enjoy.
What I want to talk about to today is unity within the body of Christ. This concept is really awesome and I find it encouraging in many different ways.
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There are so many passages in the Bible that speak about unity, so I won't endeavor to cover them all, but I would like to pull from two passages that have been very influential in my life with this specific topic. The first comes from Ephesians 4:3-6 "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit -- just as you were called to one hope when you were called -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
This passage helped my high school class at Heritage Christian Academy get through a lot of things. Every year, our Student Council picked a theme and verse to operate by and focus on. I think it was my Junior year of high school that we chose the theme of unity. Since my class only had about 20 people my Junior year of high school, we were a lot closer and more in contact with each other than other high schools. My graduating class consisted of 16 people, so you can say it wasn't an ordinary group.
Our Junior year, we were struggling specifically with the idea of unity and so we pulled from this passage to help us get it together. In a sense, we became more of a family than a group of friends simply because we spent so much time together. About 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, we were all in the same room, doing the same thing, so you can imagine that tensions might arise.
It was through this passage that really helped us understand how to work together despite our differences. In these verses the word "one" is used seven times. When you realize that you are one in Christ with other believers, your differences seem to dissipate and don't seem to be that important anymore. It is enough to realize that all believers are united under one faith and one God. No matter what we believe about certain topics within the realm of Christianity, that fact stands firm. Every believe is saved by the grace of God whether you are Baptist, Evangelical, Protestant, or any of the other 500 denominations out there.
Before I get onto my soap box about denominations, I want to point out the first part of this passage. "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." That does mean, try as hard as you can until it gets just too much to handle. That doesn't mean give up when it gets tough. We need to make every effort to be united. The only reason you should stop striving for unity is until every possible option has been exhausted.
When a church splits because one group doesn't like the color of the carpet the design committee chooses, or when, heaven forbid, we use drums to worship our Savior, there's a problem with unity. Or even when young people leave because they can't have their phones out in church. Does that seem to you to be making every effort to strive for unity? Isn't it enough that we are all saved by grace to bring us together? Once we realize that God cannot be trivialized by whether or not the nursery is "Saved by Grace Green," or "Baptist Baptism Blue," we can come together and worship Him. It's not about us, its about him, and arguing over how loud the music is does not do The Divine justice.
Think about that the next time you want leave a church when the communion wasn't blessed right, or someone took your pew in the sanctuary. That's not what matters, what matters is that the church is simply a group of people under one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, coming together to worship him. That is what's enough.
The second passage I want to point out is Philippians 2:1-4. These verses tell us exactly how to strive for this unity. The Ephesians passage provided a foundation for this concept, so Philippians adds the drywall.
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." -Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)
Basically what Paul starts off saying is, "If any of this whole Christianity thing matters to you at all, then...." He understands that there is tension within the church, but this is not because of Christ and his message. It's the people. We are fallen and can't avoid our sin, it's inevitable. What he encourages (with the presupposition of the Ephesians passage) the church to do is be like-minded.
Something I've learned just in interacting with people and helping them work through things in their life is that sometimes a dispute is completely un-based. Meaning, the conclusions drawn from one person are different from another in response to a specific action, but the cause is different in their minds. Basically, I want to say that if there is any dispute between a brother in Christ and yourself, make sure that you both understand what you're arguing about and why in the first place! Be like-minded, have the same foundation so that the rest isn't futile.
Continuing on, it encourages us to have "the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." You have to decide on what your purpose is for going to church and even interacting with fellow believers. Your foundation is Christ, yes, but is your purpose self-seeking? I recently read an article in the paper that intrigued me. I won't go into what it's about, but I will tell you the question that was raised in my mind because of it. Are you a part of the body of Christ because you want to get something out of it, or do you want to give to it? Are you acting out of love for yourself, or love for other people? This is where the spirit of unity comes in, when we realize that it's not about us. When we realize that we shouldn't do anything out of "selfish ambition" or "vain conceit." When we consider others better than ourselves. When we realize that we should first look to the interests of others before our own.
The only way this works is if there is a willing witness. As long as there is one person willing to deny themselves, it can start a wild fire. You have to come to a point when you realize what really matters in life. Even if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are right, what's more important? Proving that you're right and sacrificing a friend, or sucking it up and valuing the friendship over the fracas? Are you going to be that person that steps up and says, "Alright, you don't like loud music? We'll sing with the organ today," or "You want bright neon green in the first grade room? Go for it."
Don't be the person that is willing to sacrifice relationship over being right, or the person who leaves a church because they don't like that the offering plates don't have felt in them. Evaluate yourself and ask, what matters more? The church, or your correctness.
Keep being awesome! See you next week.
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